This application relates generally to portable rest or sleeping surfaces and, more particularly, to a lightweight, portable, padded mat that is impervious to fluids and to invasion by infectious organisms and vermin and a method for making the same.
Rest or sleeping mattress or mats are known to the art. Generally speaking, such known mats are comprised of an outer cover around a filler or padding. In most instances the prior are expedients have filler or padding of cotton batting, foam or the like and a fabric or plastic cover. The covers of the prior art mats generally are stitched and secured around the filler. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that a stitched fabric cover provides innumerable portals of entry for infections organisms, such as bacteria, or vermin such as head lice or scabies, both through the weave of the fabric and through the stitch holes. Furthermore, a cover made from a material with limited portals of entry, such as plastic, which has stitched seams still presents an unacceptably high number of sites accessible by fluid, bacteria or vermin. Furthermore, such stitched mattresses have threads that fray and pull loose and also include rough seams and sharp corners that are unacceptable on mats used by children.
A number of prior art expedients have been offered in an attempt to limit contamination of such sleeping or rest mats and mattresses by bacteria or vermin. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,371,919, to Mahoney, provides a vermin proof combined mattress and spring; U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,057, to Ahim, provides a method of making a protective layer of film to protect a mattress from injurious substances and bacteria; U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,123, to Salyards provides a flexible covering for reducing moisture and bacteria in a mattress; and, U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,294, to McClure et al. discloses a mattress having a seamless, impermeable PVC cover.
The prior art mattresses and covers have several drawbacks. For example, the patents either disclose large full sized mattresses or simply coverings for mattresses. It will be appreciated that full sized mattress are not particularly lightweight or portable or easily used by children. The prior art designs do not lend themselves to convenient storage and occasional use, for example, for convenient storage in a child-care center and occasional use by children for rest or nap. Furthermore, the use or application of a separate, bacteria or vermin resistant cover to a rest or nap cot is impractical. The process is time consuming, requires additional storage space, and requires the maintenance and disinfection of both the cot and the cover. Moreover, the production of a full sized mattress with a totally seamless surface can be quite costly.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a padded, foldable and portable infection resistant mat for use in the child-care environment, for example, that is durable and relatively simple and economical to construct, lightweight and easy to use.